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Predictability is key to jobs, businesses

By Joseph P. Smithfrom Bemidji on Oct 14, 2012 at 12:50 a.m.

New to the discourse between the candidates is accusations of lying. Gov. Romney accuses the campaign of our president of repeating a description of his tax policy that he has never proposed. The surrogates of our president claim the right to do this because the plan he actually proposes doesn’t add up. Lowering tax rates, even closing all “loopholes,” can never be revenue neutral, they say.

Everyone should be concerned about our silly tax code. Much has been made about the 47 percent of the country that pays no taxes. The assumption is that these are the poor. But let us remember that it also includes General Electric. A great plan would be to make taxes so simple that all the lobbyists, accountants and lawyers who make a handsome living by manipulating this system were made unnecessary.

The fact is that there are two ways to lower rates and maintain revenue neutrality, and the president’s surrogates only see one. The key is not to just close loopholes, but to also have more taxpayers. Today we have millions of people who would love to pay taxes, if they only had a job. This was the secret of President Clinton’s surplus. He got more people to contribute and fewer to take from the treasury.

Why don’t they have jobs? Because growing and starting businesses depends on a climate of predictability. No prudent person would invest hard-earned savings in a business while the cost of business is this unpredictable. People create successful businesses by doing the math before they invest. So people with wealth are buying precious metals, that can’t create wealth, to keep what they have while the government prints worthless money.

The real question is: Can Gov. Romney really foster the creation of 12 million jobs? Even if only half of them pay no taxes, that’s 6 million new taxpayers. The major obstacle to jobs is unpredictable medical costs imposed by a plan that even Congress can’t understand, and soaring energy costs because of regulation ruled by scare tactics. Considering the pain of present joblessness, most or maybe all people would rather be working, even if it means being taxed.

The charge that Gov. Romney is lying is a desperate tactic to cover the fact that the present administration’s budgetless record can’t be defended. He has never accused our president of lying, but all of us must draw our own conclusions about that.